Trucking Around: The Grilled Cheese Truck joins gourmet melt sandwich trend

Food trucks are a vital part of the L.A. culinary scene, with many accumulating hordes of followers who aggressively pursue them around the city. The sheer magnitude of trucks can make dining choices difficult, but columnist Alisha Kapur has narrowed down 10 to try and review. Join her as she goes across the city, experiencing everything from Korean barbecue tacos to sushi burritos, in an attempt to find the food trucks that are worth following.

Gourmet grilled cheese has gained a cult following, trending in restaurants across the nation. I have tried a few outstanding grilled cheeses, from the Fatty Melt, a burger made with two grilled cheese sandwiches at Max Burger, a restaurant near my hometown, to the Mac Daddy, a sandwich with macaroni and cheese and bacon at The Melt, a California chain.

My favorite was the Mac Daddy, and I eagerly awaited the day when I would try something similar again.

I found that in The Grilled Cheese Truck’s Cheesy Mac and Rib Melt, also known as the Fully Loaded. The sandwich consists of macaroni and cheese, barbecue pork and caramelized onions. However, despite their similarities, the Cheesy Mac and Rib Melt gave me a whole new perspective.

When I tried The Melt’s Mac Daddy, I found it to be a tasteful sandwich fit for a cool, metropolitan area. The Cheesy Mac and Rib Melt, though, transported me to a different place. I found myself picturing images of hoedowns and summer evenings on ranches as I bit into an unapologetically cheesy grilled cheese.

I did not have high expectations for the macaroni and cheese, but it pleasantly surprised me with its sharp cheddar taste. Since it is my favorite food, I always worry that macaroni and cheese will not live up to my expectations, but the chefs at The Grilled Cheese Truck know how to make macaroni and cheese from a truck taste homemade.

The barbecue pork did not overpower the rest of the grilled cheese, but it balanced out the heaviness of the macaroni and cheese. Before ordering, I had considered just adding bacon to a Cheesy Mac melt – a grilled cheese with only macaroni and cheese – instead of getting the Fully Loaded, but I found that the barbecue pork gave the sandwich a new, enjoyable twist.

However, the sandwich did have some minor flaws. With a price tag of $8, I expected the Fully Loaded to be a little bigger. I sometimes felt as though the macaroni and cheese blended in a little bit too much with the rest of the sandwich. It felt a little bit mushy and did not always hold its own. However, these faults would not deter me from visiting the truck again.

After enjoying my lunch, I dug into my dessert. I had decided to try the S’more Melt, a sandwich consisting of graham crackers, Nutella and marshmallows. I eagerly bit into the delicacy, but found it to be a little too dry. I could hardly swallow it down, and the ingredients did not blend together. Although both the Fully Loaded and the S’more Melt had very dry, hard bread, this fact did not detract as much from the Fully Loaded grilled cheese as it did from the S’more Melt. My friends and I could not even finish this sandwich. Next time, I would either not get the second melt or I would wash it down with a cup of milk. For $6 though, I would rather buy my own graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate.

As with a lot of food trucks, the prices at The Grilled Cheese Truck seemed a little unfair. One of my friends wanted to try The Motherloaded, a concoction made up of two Fully Loaded melts bound together with more macaroni and cheese and bacon, but he did not want to spend $19 on it.

However, when we visited it, The Grilled Cheese Truck was located among other well-known trucks, and it still had the longest line. Its unusual sandwiches and option to choose ingredients from a long list of additions provide choices for everyone, and its sandwiches give home cooking a run for its money.

– Alisha Kapur

Do you know any food trucks in Los Angeles worth sampling? Email Kapur at [email protected].